Hi.

I’m Jackie, a stay at home vegan mommy of one amazing little girl. My daughter, Zoey, is three years old, a huge Disney aficionado and Minnie Mouse super fan. She’s also the most amazing little helper in the kitchen that a mother could ask for, and so she is… my Minnie Chef.

Fostering a healthy start with all my heart.

Feb 29

Feb 29 kale caesar

My love affair with Caesar salads started at a very young age. Growing up, we had a little French bakery and café across the street from our neighborhood. On Saturdays, my dad made it sort of a tradition to take me out to lunch for a Caesar salad and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert—my all time favorite treat when I was little.

The Caesar salads at this place were not just your average Caesar. They were served in these heavenly, warm, freshly baked baguette bowls. Every time mine would arrive at the table, I would take the cut out top off, place it crust down in my hand and pile it high with my salad. I would fold it over and start by devouring my little Caesar salad sandwich. Next, I’d dive into the salad. Then after my salad was finished came the best part… Eating the bowl. The dough on the inside of the bowl would be smothered in the creamy Caesar dressing that had rubbed off of all the lettuce it had been holding. I can’t even begin to explain how delicious it was. To this day, 20+ years later, I can still remember so vividly how delicious it was that I can almost taste it. It still baffles me to this day that I have yet to just spread Caesar dressing directly onto a baguette to enjoy, but for some reason I don’t think it would be quite the same…

Fast forward to when I was pregnant with Zoey, I still loved my Caesar salads, but avoided eating them at restaurants because of my fear of eating raw egg while pregnant. So I started experimenting with some homemade versions. I’ve grown to love my Caesar dressing slightly tart and citrusy and started adding fresh squeezed lemon juice to my recipes. I decided to try kale instead of romaine because I thought that the citrusy freshness of this dressing would cut the stronger, slightly bitter flavor of the kale and add an exciting new element to one of my favorite classics. And now this salad is something I crave at least once a week! I hope you enjoy it!